GUATEMALA CITY, March 24, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Guatemalan investigators have
been unable to identify about 110 pieces of remains from victims of a
volcanic eruption that killed 202 people and left 229 missing last June, a
forensic official said Saturday.
After months of testing, which included sending some samples abroad, about
110 remains cannot be identified, said the head of the National Forensic
Sciences Office, Fanuel Garcia.
“The analysis process has concluded and 202 people were identified and
their remains handed to family for burial,” he said.
As for the rest of the remains, some could be duplicates from people
already identified, Garcia said.
“We have all of them and we are holding on to them, awaiting a time to
carry out a collective burial,” he said of the unidentified remains.
The June 3 eruption of gas, ash and glowing boulders from Fuego, 3,763
meters high (12,246 feet), wiped the village of San Miguel Los Lotes from the
map.
That was the worst of at least five eruptions by Fuego last year.
Located 35 kilometers (22 miles) from Guatemala City, it remains volatile
and on Friday rained ash on nearby communities before quietening Saturday,
the Institute of Seismology said.